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Rich nations restore their own forests but trash those elsewhere

16 May 2018

Planting trees in rich countries is a cover for deforestation elsewhere

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By Fred Pearce

RICHER nations expand their forests, while poorer nations lose them. In theory the new finding could drive global reforestation, because ever more nations are becoming wealthy. But it is not that simple. Although many rich countries are replanting lost forests, they may also be indirectly responsible for deforestation elsewhere.

Pekka Kauppi at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and his colleagues studied trends in economic development and forest cover around the world. They found that more developed countries farm intensively on the best farmland and give …